1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a health data generating method for taking measurements of indexes of a human subject and for generating health data useful for healthcare based on the measurements, a health data generation apparatus therefor, a user terminal therefor, and a computer-readable recording medium therefor.
2. Description of Related Art
Health data generation apparatuses have been widely used that are capable of producing data that serves as indexes of health conditions (hereinafter, this will be referred to as “health data”) such as body fat percentage and visceral fat cross-sectional area. A health data generation apparatus of this type sometimes has plural functions capable of generating plural types of health data such as body weight, body fat percentage, visceral fat cross-sectional area, body water mass, and bone mass, such as a body composition measuring device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-325921.
The health data includes those which can be directly measured, such as body weight, and those which are generated through computation using an estimation equation such as body fat percentage, visceral fat cross-sectional area, body water mass, or bone mass that cannot be directly measured. In a case in which health data is generated according to an estimation equation, individual data of a human subject such as height, age, and sex are used as parameters, in addition to the human subject measurements, such as body weight and bioelectric impedance, which can be physically measured. However, because those parameters used in the equation vary depending on a function, a user must perform complicated setting and inputting operations even in a case in which the user wishes to obtain only one or a few particular types of human subject indexes. Furthermore, even if a user wishes to use only one function of the plural functions of a multifunctional health data generation apparatus, the user has to select the function for each measurement, which is troublesome for a young person or an elderly person who may often be unfamiliar with the operations of the device.